The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method and a program storage medium, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus and method, in which sound contents are recorded, and a program storage medium having stored therein a program to be used in the information processing apparatus and method, and under which such a sound information processing is effected.
The information processing apparatus such as a personal computer can access an EMD (electrical music distribution) server via a predetermined network and receive a content such as musical data from the EMD server.
The EMD server transmits contents such as musical data along with data such as playback time limit or number of times of playback to the personal computer.
However, the type of data about the contents like the musical data such as the playback time limit or number of times of playback supplied along with the musical data is not always constant but vary from one EMD server or content to another.
The personal computer has to change the recording method including a data table correspondingly to the type of data about the supplied data and takes much time for processing the data.
Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional information processing apparatus such as a personal computer by providing an information processing apparatus and method, capable of processing a variety of data about contents flexibly and quickly to record the various content-related data, and a program storage medium having stored therein an program which is to be used in the information processing apparatus and method to effect such an information processing.
The above object can be attained by providing an information processor including, according to the present invention, a first recording means for relating a predetermined number of types of data about a first content as a first main data group with the first content and recording the data, and a second recording means for relating data of types other than the first main data group about the first content and recording in a sub data group.
In the above information processor, the first recording means relates a predetermined number of types of data about the second content as a second main data group with the second content and records the data, and the second recording means relates data of types other than the second main data group about the second content with the second content and records the data in the sub data group.
The above information processor further includes, according to the present invention, means for judging, when reading data about a content, whether the type of data to be read is that of data recorded in either the main data group or sub data group, and means for searching for data from a plurality of main data groups or sub data groups based on the result of the search made by the data searching means.
Also, the above object can be attained by providing an information processing method including, according to the present invention, a first recording step of relating a predetermined number of types of data about a first content as a first main data group with the first content and recording the data, and a second recording step of relating data of types other than the first main data group about the first content and recording in a sub data group.
In the above information processing method, at the first recording step, a predetermined number of types of data about the second content is related as a second main data group with the second content and recorded, and at the second recording step, data of types other than the second main data group about the second content are related with the second content and recorded in the sub data group.
The above information processing method further includes, according to the present invention, a judging step of judging, when reading data about a content, whether the type of data to be read is that of data recorded in either the main data group or sub data group, and a data searching step of searching for data from a plurality of main data groups or sub data groups based on the result of the search made at the data searching step.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a program storage medium having stored therein a computer-readable program for use in the above information processing apparatus and method, the program including, according to the present invention, a first recording step of relating a predetermined number of types of data about a first content as a first main data group with the first content and recording the data, and a second recording step of relating data of types other than the first main data group about the first content and recording the data in a sub data group.
In the program stored in the above program storage medium, at the first recording step, a predetermined number of types of data about the second content is related as a second main data group with the second content and recorded, and at the second recording step, data of types other than the second main data group about the second content are related with the second content and are recorded in the sub data group.
The program stored in the above program storage medium further includes, according to the present invention, a judging step of judging, when reading data about a content, whether the type of data to be read is that of data recorded in either the main data group or sub data group, and a data searching step of searching for data from a plurality of main data groups or sub data groups based on the result of the search made at the data searching step.
These objects and other objects, features and advantages of the present intention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the best modes for carrying out the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.